07/07/2015

Landmark Rulings on Seal-Killing Salmon Farms

This afternoon (Tuesday 7 July 2015), the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) will publish two key decisions on seal-killing salmon farms (access online here). Today's rulings are expected to either force the Scottish Government to re-publish data identifying salmon farms killing seals or reveal a dramatic u-turn by the SIC in allowing the names of salmon farms killing seals to be hidden from public view.

"Today's decisions are landmark rulings," said Don Staniford, Director of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture. "If the Scottish Government is forced yet again to disclose the names of the trigger-happy salmon farms killing seals then the public will be able to boycott seal-unfriendly Scottish salmon. If the Scottish Information Commissioner rules in favour of non-disclosure then it will send the shameful signal that Scottish salmon farmers can get away with murder. Either way, consumers eating lethal Scottish salmon have blood on their hands. Better be seal-safe than sorry and boycott all Scottish salmon - even RSPCA 'Freedom Food' and ASC-certified farmed salmon which shockingly sanction the slaughter of seals."

The decisions follow repeated Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture (GAAIA) since April 2012 asking the Scottish Government to name individual salmon farms killing seals. Despite rulings by the Scottish Information Commissioner in 2012 and 2013 forcing disclosure, the Scottish Government stopped publishing site specific quarterly data in 2014 claiming in August 2014 a "significant risk of accidental injury to campaigners if they seek to get between licenced seal shooters and seals".

According to official Scottish Government figures (excluding 2015 since no data has been published), salmon farms in Scotland have killed 634 seals since 2011. An analysis of the data by GAAIA in 2013 revealed that Hjaltland (Grieg Seafood), Scottish Sea Farms (Leroy/Salmar), Marine Harvest and the Scottish Salmon Company were the most lethal. Over half (52%) of the 215 active salmon farms in Scotland killed at least one seal. The deadliest salmon farm was Hjaltland's Lax Firth site in Shetland with 18 dead seals followed a Scottish Sea Farms site in Veantrow Bay in Orkney with 14 dead seals.

"Next time you’re at the checkout, how do you know that the salmon in your basket isn’t essentially drenched in seal blood?" said actor Martin Shaw in an interview with The Sunday Times in May 2013. "The best thing you can do to end this bloodshed is to simply boycott this intensive and cruel industry."

Despite the SIC's previous rulings, the Scottish Government back-tracked and stopped publishing site specific data on seal-killing salmon farms during the first half of 2014. In a FOI refusal letter in August 2014, the Scottish Government claimed a "significant risk of accidental injury to campaigners if they seek to get between licenced seal shooters and seals" and cited "recent evidence about harassment, intimidation and threats made to company staff and their family members by specific campaigners".

In August 2014, GAAIA asked the Scottish Government for a formal review arguing that Marine Scotland had reneged on the previous SIC ruling (read news via "End Secrecy Over Seal Deaths"). In September 2014, GAAIA filed an appeal with the Scottish Information Commissioner. "I repeat GAAIA's position that disclosure of the salmon farm sites killing seals is in the public interest and consumers have a right to know about the provenance of the salmon that they are buying," wrote Don Staniford. "Surely the public have a right to know which sites are killing seals and make an informed decision about the salmon they are buying?"

Since September 2014, both GAAIA and the Scottish Government has submitted further written evidence. GAAIA has also filed other FOI requests with Police Scotland and the Scottish Government. Read more details via GAAIA's 'Media Backgrounder: Sealed Scottish Salmon'.